[Newsletter] Announcements from Alchemy Mindworks

Alchemy Mindworks alchemyreply0991 at mindworkshop.com
Sat Sep 30 09:03:00 EDT 2017




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     Contents:


      1. Announcing GIF Construction Set Professional 8

      2. Announcing e-Paint 8 (Second Notification)

      3. Announcing Graphic Workshop Professional 8 (Additional Notification)
  
      4. Replying to this Message and List Removal



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     All those research grants spent looking for Darkmatter, 
     and it was on Amazon the whole time...

         http://www.stevenwilliamrimmer.com/darkmatter.html
                  
     _______________________________________________________________________





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     1. Announcing GIF Construction Set Professional 8
     _______________________________________________________________________


     GIF Construction Set Professional 8 has been released.

     We've refined the internal architecture of GIF Construction Set 
     Professional to make it faster, more memory-efficient and better able to 
     take advantage of the functionality of Windows 7, 8 and 10.

     While most of the seriously cool changes embodied in GIF Construction 
     Set Professional 8 are "under the hood," users of the latest release 
     will notice that it's noticeably quicker, especially for functions that 
     call for significant system resources, such as assembling complex 
     animations.
     
     The updated architecture will also allow us to add new features to 
     GIF Construction Set Professional that were impractical or genuinely 
     impossible under version 7.



     ........................................................................


     WHAT'S NEW


     The changes in version 8 include:


     - Adds a batch processor. Apply most of the functions of GIF 
       Construction Set's Block menu - such as Resize, Color and Balance, 
       Watermark and more - to multiple animations using a Graphic Workshop-
       like browser interface. Save hours of clicking and dragging and 
       prevent your mouse from being melted down to a puddle of liquid 
       e-waste.

       See the discussion of the Batch Processor in the Reference document of 
       GIF Construction Set's Manual.


     - Enhances the Adjust window, with better filtering and numeric controls
       for more repeatable effects.


     - Improves the color management of Animation Wizard for more realistic
       color reduction. 


     - Improves the color management of the Combine window - astute users 
       will have surmised that this is the same color management logic as 
       appears in Animation Wizard.


     - Updates the Color and Balance window to make it more intuitive.


     - Addresses a number of metrics issues in Titles and Credits.


     - Improves the thumbnailing logic that turns up in the File menu, the 
       Transitions window, the Animation wizard window and various other 
       places to make it quicker and more attractive.


     - GIF Construction Set Professional 8 will optionally import most of the 
       configuration items of an existing GIF Construction Set Professional 7 
       installation, if there's one on your system, eliminating the need to 
       restore your preferences by hand. 

       It will also remove your earlier software and its attendant plugins 
       for you if you like. See the discussion of updating plugins below.


     - Hardens the library interface underlying GIF Construction Set to make 
       it more resistant to tampering. Sadly, the tampering in question 
       appears to originate with some third-party security applications... 
       which our lawyers would really prefer we didn't name.


     - Addresses a number of GDI and performance issues that software 
       developers never really stop meddling with.      


     - Updates the documentation.

    
     We'd like to take this opportunity to express our sincere regrets for
     the minor bump in the price of GIF Construction Set. In our defense, 
     it's been about a decade and a half since it last changed. Bookkeepers 
     may not be the most irresistible force in the universe, but they are 
     the most relentless.


     You can download GIF Construction Set Professional 8 from:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/gifcon.html#download


     ........................................................................


     UPGRADES


     If you registered or upgraded a registration for GIF Construction Set 
     Professional 7 on or after March 1, 2017, you’re welcome to a free 
     upgrade to GIF Construction Set Professional 8. 

     If you registered or upgraded a registration for GIF Construction Set 
     Professional 7 prior to March 1, 2017, you can upgrade to GIF 
     Construction Set Professional 8 for half the cost of a new single-user 
     license.

     When you first run GIF Construction Set Professional 8, it will check to 
     see if you have a registration for GIF Construction Set Professional 7
     on your system. If it finds one, it will display a window to tell you 
     which of the foregoing upgrade options is applicable. Click on the 
     Upgrade button to visit our web page and request or order an upgrade. 

     The upgrade window can subsequently be accessed through the Help > 
     Upgrade Manager > Upgrade from Previous Version item of GIF Construction 
     Set Professional 8's menu bar.

     You can also visit the no-cost upgrade page directly at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/gcskey.html

     and the upgrade order page at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/upgrade.html     
   


     ........................................................................



     PLUGINS


     All the animation plugins for GIF Construction Set Professional have 
     been upgraded to run with GIF Construction Set Professional 8.

     If you have registered one or more plugins for a previous release of 
     GIF Construction Set, your existing registration keys are still
     valid. You'll just need to download the version 8 installers for your
     plugins.

     All the animation plugins are at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/animplugins.html

     IMPORTANT: If you have plugins installed under GIF Construction Set 7 or 
     PNG MNG Construction Set 7 and you plan to uninstall GIF Construction 
     Set 7 or PNG MNG Construction Set 7 to replace them with the new
     version 8 software, please be sure uninstall all your version 7 plugins, 
     and then uninstall GIF Construction Set 7 and PNG MNG Construction Set 7.

     GIF Construction Set 8 will offer to automatically remove your old 
     plugins for you the first time it runs - go for it, as this will save you
     lots of clicking later on.

     We've also created a quick way to reinstall your plugins once you've 
     downloaded the version 8 installers. Please see:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/animplugins-qa.html#0032     



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     2. Announcing e-Paint 8 (Second Notification)
     _______________________________________________________________________


     e-Paint 8 has been released.


     We've refined the internal architecture of e-Paint to make it faster, 
     more memory-efficient and better able to take advantage of the 
     functionality of Windows 7, 8 and 10.

     While most of the seriously cool changes embodied in e-Paint 8 are 
     "under the hood," users of the latest release will notice that it's 
     noticeably quicker, especially for functions that call for significant 
     system resources, such as filtering images.
     
     The updated architecture will also allow us to add new features to 
     e-Paint that were impractical or genuinely impossible under version 7.


     ........................................................................


     WHAT'S NEW


     The changes in version 8 include:


     - The Filters window has been completely rewritten. It features numeric 
       as well as interactive controls; a full-screen preview window (hold 
       down Shift when you click on the Preview button); Save and Open for 
       the parameters of individual filters; and a new architecture that will 
       allow us to add further functionality to the Filters window going 
       forward.


     - The Adjust window now features numeric as well as interactive 
       controls, and smoother filter functions.


     - The Photography Workshop window has been updated with a number of 
       enhanced filters.


     - The drawing and rendering engine has been updated to make it quicker
       and more precise.


     - e-Paint 8 will optionally import most of the configuration items of 
       an existing e-Paint 7 installation, if there's one on your system, 
       eliminating the need to restore your preferences by hand.


     - The Scrapbook has been fine-tuned to make it faster when it's 
       confronted by a large number of images.
     

     - Bags of lesser issues have been addressed in e-Paint 8.


     - Updates the documentation.


     We'd like to take this opportunity to express our sincere regrets for
     the minor bump in the price of e-Paint. In our defense, it's been about 
     a decade and a half since it last changed. Bookkeepers may not be the 
     most irresistible force in the universe, but they are the most 
     relentless.


     You can download e-Paint 8 from:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/paint.html#download


     ........................................................................


     UPGRADES


     If you registered or upgraded a registration for e-Paint 7 on or after 
     March 1, 2017, you’re welcome to a free upgrade to e-Paint 8. 

     If you registered or upgraded a registration for e-Paint 7 prior to 
     March 1, 2017, you can upgrade to e-Paint 8 for half the cost of a new 
     single-user license.

     When you first run e-Paint 8, it will check to see if you have a 
     registration for e-Paint 7 on your system. If it finds one, it will 
     display a window to tell you which of the foregoing upgrade options is 
     applicable. Click on the Upgrade button to visit our web page and 
     request or order an upgrade. 

     The upgrade window can subsequently be accessed through the Help > 
     Upgrade Manager > Upgrade from Previous Version item of e-Paint 8's menu 
     bar.

     You can also visit the no-cost upgrade page directly at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/pntkey.html

     and the upgrade order page at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/upgrade.html     




     _______________________________________________________________________

     3. Announcing Graphic Workshop Professional 8 (Additional Notification)
     _______________________________________________________________________



     Graphic Workshop Professional 8 has been released. 

     We've refined the internal architecture of Graphic Workshop 
     Professional to make it faster, more memory-efficient and better able 
     to take advantage of the functionality of Windows 7, 8 and 10.

     While most of the seriously cool changes embodied in Graphic Workshop 
     Professional 8 are "under the hood," users of the latest release will
     notice that it's noticeable quicker, especially for functions that call
     for significant system resources, such as thumbnail management.
     
     The updated architecture will also allow us to add new features to 
     Graphic Workshop that were impractical or genuinely impossible under 
     version 7.



     ........................................................................


     WHAT'S NEW


     The changes in version 8 include:


     - The View mode Filters window has been completely rewritten. It 
       features numeric as well as interactive controls; a full-screen
       preview window (hold down Shift when you click on the Preview
       button); Save and Open for the parameters of individual filters;
       and a new architecture that will allow us to add further 
       functionality to the Filters window going forward.


     - The Adjust window now features numeric as well as interactive 
       controls, and smoother filter functions.


     - Graphic Workshop Professional 8 is now supported by a professional
       printed book, available through Amazon. You'll see a window about it 
       the first time the software boots up, and you can find out more by 
       selecting Printed Reference from Graphic Workshop's Help menu, or by 
       clicking on he red book cover at the Graphic Workshop web page.


     - Presentation Wizard UltraLight is now bundled with Graphic
       Workshop. Build complete distributable Windows applications with
       your pictures and text in this simplified edition of our popular
       Presentation Wizard software.


     - Archive Manager has been enhanced to support AES encryption and 
       decryption, and to support ZIP archives larger than four gigabytes.
       It's notably quicker, and a number of software issues have been
       addressed.


       Archive Manager offers a wider range of configuration items to allow
       it to be customized to your needs.


     - GIF Construction Set UltraLight has been updated to manage color 
       reduction more effectively, improving the performance of its Animation
       Wizard.


     - The prompt before overwrite issue in Graphic Workshop that caused 
       incorrect preview images to be displayed in some circumstances has 
       been nailed.         


     - CMYK TIFF files with alpha transparency now read and display 
       correctly.


     - The Graphic Workshop View window is faster and smoother to work with.
       

     - Several issues with Montage Builder UltraLight have been addressed, 
       including a problem that could crash the application if a previous
       file was selected from the File menu, under some builds of Windows.


     - Graphic Workshop Professional 8 will optionally import most of the
       configuration items of an existing Graphic Workshop 7 installation,
       if there's one on your system, eliminating the need to restore 
       your browsers and preferences by hand.
     

     - Bags of lesser issues have been addressed in Graphic Workshop and 
       its ancillary applications.


     - Updates the documentation.


     We'd like to take this opportunity to express our sincere regrets for
     the minor bump in the price of Graphic Workshop. In our defense, it's 
     been about a decade and a half since it last changed. Bookkeepers may 
     not be the most irresistible force in the universe, but they are the 
     most relentless.


     You can Graphic Workshop Professional 8 from:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/gwspro.html#download



     ........................................................................



     UPGRADES


     If you registered or upgraded a registration for Graphic Workshop 
     Professional 7 on or after March 1, 2017, you’re welcome to a no-cost
     upgrade to Graphic Workshop Professional 8. 

     If you registered or upgraded a registration for Graphic Workshop 
     Professional 7 prior to March 1, 2017, you can upgrade to Graphic 
     Workshop Professional 8 for half the cost of a new single-user license.

     When you first run Graphic Workshop Professional 8, it will check to see 
     if you have a registration for Graphic Workshop Professional 7 on your 
     system. If it finds one, it will display a window to tell you which of 
     the foregoing upgrade options is applicable. Click on the Upgrade button
     to visit our web page and request or order an upgrade. 

     The upgrade window can subsequently be accessed through the Help > 
     Upgrade Manager > Upgrade from Previous Version item of Graphic Workshop 
     Professional 8's menu bar.

     The Graphic Workshop Professional no-cost upgrade key offer ends on 
     November 30, 2017.

     You can also visit the no-cost upgrade page directly at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/gwskey.html

     and the upgrade order page at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/upgrade.html     
   


     ........................................................................



     PLUGINS


     All the format plugins for Graphic Workshop Professional have been 
     upgraded to run with Graphic Workshop Professional 8.

     If you have registered the RAW Digital Camera plugin for a previous
     release of Graphic Workshop, your existing registration key is still
     valid. You'll just need to download the version 8 installer for this
     plugin.

     All the Graphic Workshop plugins are at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/gwsplugins.html

     IMPORTANT: If you have plugins installed under Graphic Workshop 7 and
     you plan to uninstall Graphic Workshop 7 to replace it with the new
     Graphic Workshop Professional 8, please be sure uninstall all your 
     version 7 plugins, and then uninstall Graphic Workshop 7.




     _______________________________________________________________________

     4. Replying to this Message and List Removal
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     This message has been sent from an unmonitored address - please do not
     reply to it.

     To remove your address from this mailing list or to change your 
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         http://www.mindworkshop.com/update-list.html

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     .......................................................................


     If you have questions about this list or any Alchemy Mindworks
     products, please contact us at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/email-alchemy.html

     You can contact us by telephone at (705) 789-5238, and by snail-mail
     at Alchemy Mindworks, L10 C8 Brunel, Huntsville, ON P1H 2J3, CANADA.


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